Battles for the North
by HolyKnightsofTheRoundTable
Summary: Details brief overviews of each of the battles that takes place in the main story of A Time for Wolves.
1. Massacre on the Green Fork

**To keep up with all the changes that I have made for House Stark and their numbers in the War of the Five Kings, I shall be putting up brief descriptions of the battles from A Time for Wolves, so that I can keep track of the numbers for the armies in the war.**

MASSACRE ON THE GREEN FORK

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** 299 AC

 **Place:** Eastern bank of the Green Fork, between the Twins and the inn at the crossroads

 **Result:** Lannister victory

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• House Lannister

• House Stark

 **-Commanders-**

• Lord Tywin Lannister, Ser Gregor Clegane, Ser Kevan Lannister, Ser Addam Marbrand

• Brynden Stark, Lord Roose Bolton, Lord Medger Cerwyn, Lord Halys Hornwood, Ser Wylis Manderly, Harrion Karstark

 **-Strength-**

•~20,000: ~7,500 horse, ~300 mounted clansmen, ~12,500 foot

• 17,300: Strike force of 1,100 men

 **-Casualties-**

• Light losses

• 1,100

* * *

The massacre on the Green Fork is an early battle in the War of the Five Kings and is the first to involve forces of House Stark. The battle occurs along the Green Fork of the River Trident in the riverlands.

 **Prelude**

With the riverlands forces scattered, most of their land under Lannister control, and Riverrun besieged by Ser Jaime Lannister's host, his father, Lord Tywin Lannister, occupies the ruby ford over the Trident. He plans to intercept the Stark host at the only crossing available to them over the Trident, other than the Twins, where Lord Walder Frey remains neutral in the conflict and is thought unlikely to join them.

However, Catelyn Stark persuades the Freys to join her sons Robb and Brynden, opening the way over the Twins. Robb, who does not wish to stake everything on one battle with Tywin, splits his host in two. The foot and one tenth of the horse under Brynden Stark march down the kingsroad east of the Green Fork to engage Tywin, while Robb himself commands the rest of the cavalry and crosses west of the river, in the hope of lifting the siege of Riverrun by taking Jaime unawares.

 **Battle**

The Stark army commanded by Brynden Stark, marches along the Green Fork with barges to distract the Lannister army while Robb rides for Riverrun to lift the siege. Not wanting to risk losing more than he has to, Brynden sends only 1,000 men against Lord Tywin's host while sending another hundred on barges to attack their baggage train. The Lannisters win a crushing victory, but they soon learn that the battle was a feint as Brynden retreats with the rest of his men back to Moat Cailin. Lord Tywin fails to give chase, on his account to help Jaime.

 **Aftermath**

Despite his loss, Brynden Stark's march down the Green Fork, prior to the battle, distracts the Lannister army long enough to give his brother the chance to fall upon Ser Jaime Lannister's force unmolested in the battle in the Whispering Wood.

* * *

 **I'm posting it in the Game of Thrones section just because, :).**


	2. Battle of the Fever River

BATTLE OF THE FEVER RIVER

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** 299 AC

 **Place:** Fever River, the north

 **Result:** Stark victory

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• House Stark

• House Greyjoy

 **-Commanders-**

• Prince Brynden Stark, Ser Kyle Condon, Robett Glover

• Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy

 **-Strength-**

•~10,000: ~1,000 horse, ~9,000 foot

•~10,000: ~500 horse, 9,500 foot

 **-Casualties-**

•~1,000: Lord Medger Cerwyn†, Lord Halys Hornwood†

• 10,000: Victarion Greyjoy†, Red Ralph Stonehouse†, Ralph Kenning†, Ralph the Limper†

* * *

 **Prelude**

Robb Stark, seeking allies, sends Theon Greyjoy as an envoy to his father to offer an alliance between the north and the Iron Islands. His mother, Catelyn Stark warns Brynden of Robb's decision, and Brynden sends outriders out to watch for Ironborn activity in the north. Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, rejects the offer from the King in the North and instead intends to strike at the north, which he believes is weakly defended with the northern forces fighting in the riverlands and the westerlands, unaware the Stark forces are fortifying Moat Cailin. Balon sends Theon, his brother Aeron Damphair, and Dagmer Cleftjaw to harry the Stony Shore in hopes that the remaining northern lords will march from their castles. Balon sends his daughter Asha to seize Deepwood Motte and his brother Victarion with the majority of the Iron Fleet to seize Moat Cailin and prevent the northern lords in the south from returning to their seats, unaware that the Starks are wary of Theon betraying them.

 **Battle**

Victarion and the Iron Fleet sail up the Saltspear and the Fever River to its headwaters, from which Moat Cailin is less than twenty miles away. Stark outriders spot the fleet sailing into Blazewater Bay and Brynden Stark is informed of their arrival. Deciding to take the fight to the Ironborn when they land, Brynden Stark takes the Ironborn unawares as they disembark from their ships. The Ironborn are slaughtered, including Victarion Greyjoy and his captains, with their ships of the Iron Fleet now in Stark hands.

 **Aftermath**

With the Iron Fleet defeated, and their ships captured, the Starks now control a fleet for the first time since Brandon the Burner. Aware that the Ironborn are trying to invade the north, Brynden sets sail with his new fleet to purge the north of the Ironborn. The deaths of Lord Hornwood on the Fever River and his son Daryn in the Whispering Wood cause a succession crisis to Hornwood.


	3. Fighting at the Stony Shore

FIGHTING AT THE STONY SHORE

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** 299 AC

 **Place:** Stony Shore, the north

 **Result:** Stark victory

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• House Stark

• House Greyjoy

 **-Commanders-**

• Prince Brynden Stark, Ser Kyle Condon

• Dagmer Cleftjaw

 **-Strength-**

• 10,000: 100 ships of the Iron Fleet, 300 outriders

• 8 longships: less than 50 men

 **-Casualties-**

• Light losses

• Majority slaughtered: Dagmer Cleftjaw†, Aeron Greyjoy†

* * *

The Fighting at the Stony Shore occurs during the War of the Five Kings. Remants of Dagmer Cleftjaw's forces are wiped out by Ser Kyle Condon's outriders.

 **Prelude**

Sailing from the Fever River, Brynden Stark and his men spot eight longships harrying the Stony Shore. They engage the small fleet and disembark so that Brynden Stark can display the spiked heads of his victims along the coastline to deter future invaders. Ser Kyle Condon leads outriders to search for any Ironborn near the Stony Shore.

 **Battle**

Returning from his defeat at Torrhen's Square by Ser Rodrik Cassel, and with less than fifty men, Dagmer Cleftjaw leads the remnants of his forces back to Stony Shore. Ser Kyle Condon and his outriders soon come across Dagmer Cleftjaw and engage his forces, wiping out the remaining Ironborn on the Stony Shore.

 **Aftermath  
**

With most of the Ironborn defeated, Brynden Stark sets sail for Deepwood Motte to anchor his ships off their coastline and wait for Lord Wyman Manderly to send skilled captains and sailors to man the ships for future battles.


	4. Retaking of Deepwood Motte

RETAKING OF DEEPWOOD MOTTE

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** 299 AC

 **Place:** Deepwood Motte and the wolfswood

 **Result:** House Stark victory

• Deepwood Motte returned to House Glover

• Lady Asha captured

* * *

 **-Combatants-  
**

• House Stark

• House Greyjoy

 **-Commanders-**

• Prince Brynden Stark, Ser Kyle Condon, Robett Glover

• Asha Greyjoy

 **-Strength-**

• 11,500: 9,000 veterans of the Fever River, 2,500 mountain clansmen, 105 longships

• 1,000: 30 longships

 **-Casualties-**

• Light losses

• All but 3 captured, and 25 longships captured

* * *

The Retaking of Deepwood Motte occurs during the War of the Five Kings as part of Brynden Stark's campaign to drive the Ironborn out of the region.

 **Prelude**

Robb Stark, seeking allies, sends Theon Greyjoy as an envoy to his father to offer an alliance. Balon Greyjoy rejects the offer from the King in the North and instead intends to strike at the North. Balon sends his son Theon, his brother Aeron, and Dagmer Cleftjaw to harry the Stony Shore in hopes that the remaining northern lords will leave their castles and march. He sends his daughter Asha to seize Deepwood Motte and he sends his brother Victarion with the majority of the Iron Fleet to seize Moat Cailin, thereby preventing the northern lords in the south from returning to their seats.

Meanwhile, Brynden Stark, after defeating Victarion Greyjoy and capturing their ships, sets sail for Deepwood Motte after his victories on the Fever River and the Stony Shore. He wins the support of the mountain clans Flint, Wull, Norrey and Liddle after defeating the Ironborn ships anchored on the tidal flats near Deepwood Motte.

 **Battle**

While Asha Greyjoy is away, returning from Winterfell, Brynden Stark storms the castle and puts all Ironborn in the castle to the sword. Ser Kyle Condon leads outriders and mountain clansmen into the wolfswood when they spot Asha Greyjoy's party returning from Winterfell.

The Ironborn retreat and intend to travel north to their beached longships, not knowing that they have already been captured by Stark forces. The northmen sneak up on the ironborn, slaying their sentries and closing in around them. The ironborn fight back fiercely, but they are surrounded and outnumbered. Eventually, they are all subdued. Asha is defeated by Morgan Liddle, while Quenton and Dagon the Drunkard, distant Greyjoy cousins, are both slain.

 **Aftermath**

Brynden takes the wounded Ironborn captive, including Asha Greyjoy. He soon learns about Theon Greyjoy's capture of Winterfell and decides to march on the castle at once when he is told that his brothers were killed, intending to join his host with Ser Rodrik's, who has already laid siege to the castle.


	5. Battle along the Weeping Water

BATTLE ALONG THE WEEPING WATER

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** Autumn 299 AC

 **Place:** The Weeping Water in the North

 **Result:** House Stark victory

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• House Stark

• House Bolton

 **-Commanders-**

• Prince Brynden Stark, Ser Kyle Condon

• Ramsay Snow

 **-Strength-**

• 12,000

• about 600 Boltons

 **-Casualties-**

• light losses

• all 600 Boltons: Ramsay Snow†

* * *

The Battle along the Weeping Water occurs near the Weeping Water during the War of the Five Kings.

 **Prelude**

Intending to join his host with Ser Rodrik's during his siege of Winterfell, Brynden Stark arrives to find Ser Rodrik's host scattered and Winterfell in ruins. He is reunited his brothers Bran and Rickon, whom he believed were dead, as they leave the crypts of Winterfell. They find the wounded Maester Luwin in the godswood and Brynden learns that Ramsay Snow was responsible for the sack. After seeing to the repairs of Winterfell, Brynden leaves 1,000 men behind before marching on the Dreadfort.

 **Battle**

Ramsay Snow learns of the Stark host marching on the Dreadfort, and instead of staying inside the castle, he decides to take the fight to the Starks, believing he can defeat them as he did with Ser Rodrik's host. Ser Kyle Condon's outriders engage Ramsay's riders, while Brynden Stark surrounds the Bolton army and wipes them out.

 **Aftermath**

Ramsay Snow is brought before Brynden Stark and he executes him for his crimes, putting an end to his terror.


	6. Red Wedding

RED WEDDING

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** 299 AC

 **Place:** the Twins, riverlands

 **Result:** Iron Throne victory

• Robb Stark and five hundred of his men is killed

• Walder Frey declared the new Lord Paramount of the Trident

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• House Stark

• House Frey

 **-Commanders-**

• King Robb Stark

• Lord Walder Frey, Ser Walder Rivers

 **-Strength-**

• 500

• thousands of Freys

 **-Casualties-**

• Majority slaughtered: King Robb Stark†

• Fifty Freys in the camps

* * *

The Red Wedding is a massacre at the wedding feast of Edmure Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and Roslin Frey at the Twins in 299 AC during the War of the Five Kings. The King in the North, Robb Stark, and five hundred soldiers are slaughtered. The event is orchestrated by its host, Lord Walder Frey, as revenge for Robb's breaking of a marriage pact he made with House Frey. However, Walder would never have gone along with the massacre which violated all the sacred laws of hospitality without the promise of protection from Lord Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King to Joffrey I Baratheon.

 **Background**

During the War of the Five Kings, the Freys initially rise in rebellion against the Iron Throne, securing an invaluable strategic position for the northmen. The rebellion is contingent on Robb Stark's betrothal to one of Lord Walder Frey's daughters. However, Lady Sybell Spicer and her brother, Ser Rolph, maneuver Sybell's daughter, Jeyne Westerling, into treating Robb's wounds after the storming of the Crag. Informed of the alleged deaths of his brothers Bran and Rickon after the capture of Winterfell, Robb sleeps with Jeyne and then marries her, a slight that Walder is unlikely to overlook. The Freys at Harrenhal with Lord Roose Bolton are outraged and those at the Crag and Riverrun angrily return to the Twins. After learning of the broken pact, Walder secretly begins corresponding with Roose, who has wed Walder's granddaughter Walda, and Lord Tywin Lannister for terms to bring House Frey back as a supporter of the Iron Throne.

However, when Walder Frey learns that Brynden Stark has purged the north of the Ironborn, reveals that Bran and Rickon Stark are alive, and kills the Bastard of Bolton, fears that Roose will go back over to the Starks and expose him as a traitor. He has Ser Aenys Frey hold Roose Bolton and his men up at the fords where they are slaughtered by Ser Gregor Clegane and Lord Randyll Tarly.

A ploy is developed in which Walder lures Robb to the Twins, under the pretense of an invite to another marriage pact, to allegedly forgive Robb's broken vow. The marriage, between Robb's uncle Edmure and Walder's daughter Roslin, is an invitation which Robb cannot decline after already slighting his allies once, since he needs House Frey's assistance to hold the Trident while he leads an attack on the Iron Islands and Lannisport. Robb leaves Jeyne at Riverrun with his great uncle, Ser Brynden Tully, while he journeys north with thirty-five hundred, mostly northmen with some rivermen in Edmure's retinue. Three thousand of his men part ways at Oldstones with Brynden Stark to Seagard in preparation for their assault.

After Robb and his army arrive at the western castle of the Twins, he apologizes to Walder for his slight asks for bread and salt to secure guest right. Robb and Edmure are given chambers in the Water Tower between the two castles. Robb's men cross the roaring Green Fork to the eastern shore, where several thousand Freys are encamped amidst three great feast tents. Freys use several wagons and carts as a perimeter wall for the eastern camp's three tents and numerous pavilions.

Lord Walder forbids Robb from keeping Grey Wind within his castles, since the Lord of the Crossing considers the direwolf dangerous.

 **Wedding Night**

After Edmure weds Roslin, Lord Walder hosts a feast for the highborn in one of his castles, while a "bastard feast" for lesser ranks is held in the second castle. Performed songs include "Alysanne", "Flowers of Spring", "Iron Lances", and "The Queen Took Off Her Sandal, the King Took Off His Crown". Robb dances with Roslin, and several other Freys. Several poor dishes are served, the most appetizing being pink lamb. As part of the bedding custom, Edmure and Roslin depart the hall in the company of many guests of the opposite gender.

By using sellswords and knights at the feast disguised as musicians, and getting Robb's men too drunk to fight, Lord Walder Frey is able to coordinate a massacre with little loss to his own men. While the unknowing Edmure beds Roslin, the twin castles and the outlying camp are signalled when the band in Walder's hall begins playing "The Rains of Castamere". Few of the northmen in the hall have a chance to react, and most are butchered on the spot by the musicians' crossbows or Frey knives. Ser Ryman Frey leads Frey men-at-arms with longaxes.

The Freys kill many of Robb Stark's personal guard, including Ser Wendel Manderly, Robin Flint, and Owen Norrey. Lord Rickard Karstark is killed by Ser Ryman Frey. Black Walder slays Robb, who was previously shot by arrows, with a thrust to the heart.

While the Starks are being slaughtered in the hall, the unknowing Edmure impregnates Roslin in a bedchamber. Some guests who had accompanied them, such as Patrek Mallister, and Ser Marq Piper, are overwhelmed and taken captive. Freys kill Grey Wind in the yard with crossbow quarrels, despite Ser Raynald Westerling's attempt to save the direwolf.

In the camp outside the eastern castle, the three specially-rigged feast tents collapse and are set aflame with fire arrows during the slaughter, having been oiled earlier. While drunken northmen burn inside the tents, Bastard Walder Rivers leads armored Frey men-at-arms against Robb's men outside of the tents. Though no definitive count is known, most of Robb's men are killed or captured, while House Frey loses approximately fifty men in the camps.

After the battle, the Freys hack and mutilate Robb's body and cut off his head along with that of Grey Wind. In a mockery of Robb's relationship with his direwolf, the Freys sew Grey Wind's head onto Robb's decapitated body and nail a crown atop the direwolf's head. Robb's bronze and iron crown is kept by Ryman Frey.

 **Aftermath**

When news of the Red Wedding reaches Seagard, Brynden Stark succeeds his brother as the King in the North, while great benefits befell House Frey, including lordship of Riverrun and Lord Paramount of the Trident. However, it also destroys what honor is left in the house, as they violated one of the oldest and most sacred traditions of old, the guest right. This leads to antipathy and disgust towards the house by most Westerosi, including their own allies. Additionally, though no other house has dreamed to repeat the breaking of the right, it has left a more lasting stain on the ancient guest right, with safety and security in a strange castle no longer being considered guaranteed.

The Iron Throne gains a number of valuable prisoners which help resolve hostilities in the riverlands, and most river lords bend the knee. King Brynden Stark abandons the riverlands, and takes those loyal to his cause on his campaign to raze the Iron Islands. Among the river lords who accompany him are: the Blackfish, Jason Mallister, and Tytos Blackwood. Robb's crown is returned to Brynden Stark as his brother's bones and Sansa Stark, in exchange for the release of Ser Jaime Lannister while Edmure Tully is kept a prisoner of the Iron Throne.


	7. Siege of Pyke

SIEGE OF PYKE

* * *

 **Conflict:** War of the Five Kings

 **Date:** 299 AC

 **Place:** Pyke

 **Result:** Stark victory

• Extinction of House Greyjoy

• Razing of the Iron Islands

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• Ironborn

• House Stark

 **-Commanders-**

• Euron Greyjoy

• King Brynden Stark

 **-Strength-**

• Unknown

• 13,000

 **-Casualties-**

• Most of the Ironborn: Euron Greyjoy†

• Unknown

* * *

The Siege of Pyke occurs during the War of the Five Kings between the forces of the King in the North, Brynden Stark, and the King of the Isles, Euron Greyjoy.

 **Background**

Wanting revenge for the Ironborn attacking the North, the northmen prepare for an assault on the Iron Islands with the captured ships of the Iron Fleet taken during the Fever River and Deepwood Motte. Succeeding his brother as the new King in the North following the Red Wedding, Brynden Stark leads the invasion after a truce is made between Winterfell and the Iron Throne.

 **Battle**

The main battle is fought on the island of Pyke. The invasion is led by King Brynden Stark himself while the Greatjon subdues Great Wyk, and Ser Brynden Tully leads the assault on Old Wyk. The other islands are also invaded and razed to the ground with the Ironborn slaughtered and the northerners leaving no survivors.

Brynden's forces assaulted the southern wall with siege engines, shattering the main watchtower and bringing parts of the surrounding wall down. Sandor Clegane was one of the first through the breach with King Brynden not far behind along with his personal guard. The fighting in the castle was very fierce, but eventually the castle was taken, and Brynden Stark slew Euron Greyjoy in single combat.

 **Aftermath**

By the end of the campaign the Ironborn are obliterated. Their castles and keeps are left in ruins as a reminder to those who dare oppose the power of the north.


	8. Battle of Castle Black

BATTLE OF CASTLE BLACK

* * *

 **Conflict:** Conflict beyond the Wall

 **Date:** 300 AC

 **Place:** Castle Black

 **Result:** Night's Watch/Brynden Stark/Stannis Baratheon victory

* * *

 **-Combatants-**

• Free Folk: Thenns, Giants

• Night's Watch: House Stark, House Baratheon of Dragonstone

 **-Commanders-**

• King Mance Rayder, Tormund Giantsbane, Harma Dogshead†, Magnar Styr†, Varamyr

• King Brynden Stark, King Stannis Baratheon, Jon Snow, Donal Noye†, Cotter Pyke, Ser Denys Mallister

 **-Strength-**

• Main host of 100,000:~30,000 fighters, 100+ mammoths|South of the Wall: 100 Thenns and 20 experienced raiders

• Night's Watch:~40 at Castle Black, Reinforcements from Eastwatch under Janos Slynt and Ser Alliser Thorne, Second reinforcements from Eastwatch and Shadow Tower under Cotter and Ser Denys with Stannis and Brynden|Stannis: 1,500 mounted men|Brynden: 5,000 mounted men

 **-Casualties-**

• 200 wildlings and a dozen giants died during the siege|2,000 wildlings killed and another 6,000 captured during the battle beneath the Wall against Brynden and Stannis

• Roughly 20-30 Night's Watch and Mole's Town men|Light losses to Brynden and Stannis's hosts

* * *

The Battle of Castle Black is a battle which takes place at Castle Black along the Wall in the north, during the conflict beyond the Wall. The free folk (or wildlings) masses under the command of the King-beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, and attacks the Night's Watch, who are originally under the command of a blacksmith, Donal Noye, and later under the command of a steward, Jon Snow. The Night's Watch is also joined by two hosts under the command of the King in the North, Brynden Stark, and the King in the Narrow Sea, Stannis Baratheon.

 **Preface**

Mance Rayder, now knowing that the bulk of the Watch's fighting force has been wiped out in the fight at the Fist by their mutual enemy, makes his way out of the Frostfangs and starts his march toward the Wall. Mance forms a plan to divert the remaining fighting men from both Castle Black and the Shadow Tower to the far west so he can send a team to scale the Wall and take the unwalled Castle Black from behind by surprise. With Mance's diversionary force striking hard in the west, Lord Steward Bowen Marsh marshals his forces and takes the bait, leaving only the old, the green, and the sickly behind to defend Castle Black. Bowen leaves the infirm Ser Wynton Stout as castellan, although the blacksmith Donal Noye takes _de facto_ leadership due to Stout's senility.

 **Strike from the South**

As part of Mance Rayder's plan, the Magnar of Thenn, Styr, along with his co-commander Jarl, and more than 200 of his Thenn warriors, is sent ahead to scale the Wall and take Castle Black by surprise from the rear. After crossing near Greyguard and circling south-east through the Gift, Jon Snow, a supposed defector assigned to Styr's raiding party, escapes at Queenscrown.

Jon warns Mole's Town and Castle Black of the on-coming attack from the south. Many residents of Mole's Town flee to the castle, all of them helping prepare for the assault in some way. Donal Noye and Jon organize the defense around archers in the towers and a line of fighting men on the massive wooden staircase that zigzags up the south face of the Wall. "Scarecrow sentinels", dummy soldiers in Night's Watch black, are posted at roofs and windows to inflate their numbers.

The battle begins in the early morning hours as wildling raiders and Thenn warriors storm Castle Black. Although the archers take a heavy toll on the wildling force (Jon Snow and Satin pouring boiling oil on Thenns who try to take their tower), the defenders at the gate through the Wall are overwhelmed when the Mole's Town men break and flee. The battle culminates on the stair as Styr attacks upward before trying to breach the gate. Once the majority of the wildling forces mount the stair and push back the crumbling defense, the Watch springs a desperate trap. The stair, soaked in oil between the last Night's Watch line of defense and the base of the structure, is set ablaze, destroying the stair and killing Styr and most of his men. Ygritte dies in Jon's arms. While the raiding party is defeated, Mance's main force has yet to be dealt with and the Watch's primary means of transporting men and materials to the top of the Wall is destroyed.

 **The Siege**

With the news that his advance party has been defeated, and he must instead assault the Wall, Mance assembles his host beyond the tree line. After a small probing attack at night, the first morning's attacks are spearheaded by giants mounted on mammoths. Mag the Mighty, King of the Giants, manages to breach the massive doors that lead to the tunnel underneath the Wall. Donal Noye and several brothers defend the tunnel system with spears and arrow fire from behind the internal gate and murder-hole system built into the tunnel. While they manage to kill all of the attackers, including Mag, and hold the interior portcullis under the Wall, all the defenders are slain, including Donal, whose body is found crushed by Mag, and his sword thrust though the giant's neck.

With the death of Donal Noye, Jon Snow assumes command of the defense of the Wall at the request of Maester Aemon. Over the next several days, Jon manages to throw back repeated attacks on the Wall by using catapults, archers, flaming arrows, boiling oils and finally frozen barrels of rock and ice used to destroy Mance's armored turtle.

Ser Alliser Thorne, an enemy of Jon, and Lord Janos Slynt, a betrayer of Jon's father Eddard Stark, arrive along with reinforcements from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. They take Jon into custody with the knowledge, from a captured Rattleshirt who led a diversion on the eastern side of the Wall, that he had deserted and joined forces with the wildlings. Either not believing him or not caring about his orders from Qhorin Halfhand to do just that, they imprison Jon in the ice cells under the Wall.

Jon is eventually sent out to the wildling camp to treat with Mance, although Alliser and Janos want Jon to assassinate the King-Beyond-the-Wall.

 **Two Kings and Battle Beneath the Wall**

Meanwhile King Brynden Stark sails to the Shadow Tower and makes his way through the Gorge with a host of 5,000 mounted men while King Stannis Baratheon sails to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea with a host of over 1,000 mounted soldiers. King Brynden defeats the wildling raiders at the Bridge of the Skulls and slays the Weeper before travelling along the ranger roads accompanied by Ser Denys Mallister and his rangers as Cotter Pyke and his rangers from Eastwatch accompany King Stannis and his host beyond the Wall. They take Mance Rayder's host in the flank as it besieges Castle Black.

Mance's scouts warn him of the approaching rangers and as they emerge from the fringes of the wood, his free folk fly to meet them. The rangers are only scouts, a screen intended to draw in the wildlings, and they scatter back into the trees before Mance's wildlings and Harma Dogshead's raiders can slaughter them. At this crucial point, Melisandre destroys Orell's eagle that Varamyr Sixskins uses for scouting. Trumpets and warhorns blow all around and six columns of heavy horse emerge. Two of the columns smash into Harma's raiders, who have no time to regroup and meet them, while two other columns drive into into the flanks of Tormund Giantsbane's spearmen. The last two are shattered by the giants and their mammoths, but the other four are able to close in around them like pincers. On the eastern and western edges of the camps, archers loosen fire arrows at the tents and camps of the wildlings.

The wildling host breaks and runs as more men emerge from the trees. In the ensuing battle, Harma Dogshead is slain and the entire wildling force is either captured or routed with over two thousand wildlings killed. Mance is captured and most of his lieutenants are killed or captured, with the exception of Tormund Giantsbane and Varamyr Sixskins.

 **Aftermath**

With King Brynden and King Stannis at the Wall, Mance in irons and the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, along with most of the senior brothers killed at the Fist or the Gorge, the Night's Watch is left in a precarious position of having to not only elect a new Lord Commander but also to preserve their political neutrality. After a contested election between Lord Denys Mallister, commander of the Shadow Tower, Cotter Pyke, commander of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and Lord Janos Slynt, Jon Snow's name is suggested by Edd Tollett as a compromise that both Mallister and Pyke can agree upon instead of Janos. The political maneuvers of Samwell Tarly securing Mallister's and Pyke's support and some fortunate election night events result in Jon becoming the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

Ser Godry Farring is nicknamed the Giantslayer for having killed an escaping giant during the battle. The free folk host scatters; six thousand are captured by the Watch while others flee into the haunted forest and regroup under Tormund whilst others gather at Hardhome.


End file.
